Efficacy of Auditory Training and Combined Auditory-working-memory Training in Improving Communication in Older Adults

Education University of Hong Kong

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Hearing Loss

Treatments: Behavioral: Mindfulness training program; Behavioral: Auditory training program; Behavioral: Auditory-working memory training program

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05399264

2021-2022-0134

Details and patient eligibility

About

Using a randomized controlled trial, we are going to examine whether a training program that incorporates both auditory training and working memory training (AT-WMT) would generate significantly better results in communication and cognition than an auditory training program and a mindfulness training program (active-control). Participants are 120 older adults (40 per group) with untreated mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing impairment .

Full description

There will be three training groups: the Auditory training (AT) group, the Auditory-working memory training (AT-WMT) group, and the control group (mindfulness training). All training programs are home-delivered, non-clinician-administered, and computer-based. That is, training will be self-paced and administered by the participants themselves at home using a computer. A software program (see Figure 2) has been created to facilitate the administration of the AT and AT-WMT. All training groups will spend one hour per day and five days per week for 4 weeks.

Before the training, two baseline test sessions (T1 and T2, a maximum of one week apart) will be used to account for the test-retest effects. The same measurements will be administered again one day (T3) and three months (T4) after completion of the training.

Enrollment: 120 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 55 to 80 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Native Cantonese speakers and having been living in Hong Kong for at least 20 years.
• Aged between 55 and 80 years.
• Normal cognitive function, as screened with the Hong Kong version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (HK-MoCA) with a cutoff of 18/19.
• Mild-to-moderate sensorineural HI, in which the four-frequency pure-tone average at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz of the better ear is between 26 and 55 dB HL.

Exclusion criteria

• Outer or middle ear pathologies.
• Wearing hearing aids or cochlear implants.
• No computers and internet access at home.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Quadruple Blind

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120 participants in 3 patient groups, including a placebo group

Auditory-working memory training group

Experimental group

Description:

The auditory-working memory training (AT-WMT) program is home-delivered, non-clinician-administered, and computer-based. That is, training will be self-paced and administered by the participants themselves at home using a computer. A software program has been created to facilitate the administration. Participants will spend one hour per day and five days per week for 4 weeks on training. During the training, the following two adaptive tasks will be administered simultaneously: repeating the sentences masked by noise (i.e., AT component) and recalling the first or the final two words of all sentences in a given sentence set (i.e., WMT component).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Auditory-working memory training program

Adaptive Auditory training group

Active Comparator group

Description:

The sentences used in the AT program are the same as those in the AT-WMT program. However, only the AT component (i.e., adaptive sentence perception in noise) of the AT-WMT program is required in the AT program. Participants do not need to recall the first or the final two words of the sentences. The same software in the experimental group will be used. Participants will spend one hour per day and five days per week for 4 weeks on training.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Auditory training program

Mindfulness training group

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Participants in this group will participate in a mindfulness training program using newlife.330 (Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, 2018) which is a Cantonese online platform for self-guided mindfulness training. The time and computer use of the active-control group will match to those of the above two groups.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mindfulness training program